Monthly Archives: September 2012

Those of you who keep up with us on the facebook page know that we’ve been keeping busy with our online Equip training. We have two weeks left (counting this week) of our online training, and then, Lord willing, we will be attending Equip Onsite in October. Please continue to pray with us that all the funds needed to pay for Equip Onsite will come in by the deadline, which is this Friday. We still have a ways to go, but we trust that if we are supposed to attend this session God will provide.

We had a big answer to prayer last week when our oldest, Makaylah, was able to get her full leg cast removed, and go to just a short leg cast. This makes getting around a lot easier, and also means that her healing is going well. Her doctor recommended four weeks in the short cast, which would fall in the middle of our time in Florida. He is going to check the cast at three weeks, right before we leave, and see if she is ready for it to come off. The trip will be much easier on all of us if the cast is removed, so we are praying for fast healing!

In addition to updating you on how things are going here, I wanted to share a bit more about our heart for the Bibless people of Papua New Guinea specifically. Papua New Guinea is a country near Australia, and it is made up of several islands. Wikipedia says, “Papua New Guinea is one of the most culturally diverse countries on Earth.” The country is very geographically diverse as well, and due to the often rugged terrain, communities are often very isolated from each other. A great deal of travel by missionaries serving there is done by plane, as roads are often unsafe, unpredictable, and prone to being washed away by heavy rains.

This cultural and geological diversity and difficulty traveling means that Papua New Guinea is home to over 800 different languages! That’s pretty staggering when you stop to think about it. Even more staggering is the fact that of those 800+ languages, only 17 have a completed Bible translation available to them. Seventeen out of more than eight hundred. As you can see, the need for Bible translation in Papua New Guinea is very great. This is why God birthed in David’s heart so many years ago a tremendous pull to this small, barely heard of country. For years, I couldn’t understand why David was so firmly set on this place. God works in wonderful ways though. During our application process, David’s heart was brought to a place where he would have willingly served anywhere. And my heart was awakened to a deep desire to see the people of Papua New Guinea have access to God’s Word, and the thought of serving anywhere else seemed wrong!

Yesterday we received a fun package in the mail that we can’t wait to share with many of you. It contains artifacts and examples of items common to Papua New Guinea. We pulled it out and opened it with the munchkins, and it was so great seeing the excitement and heart that God has been developing in them, too. Makaylah immediately sketched out copies of what she had seen:

Today I asked the kids to pick out their favorite item so I could get a picture of them with it. They had a hard time choosing!

Sophia holding a miniature bow and arrow.

This boar’s tusk necklace was also popular!

Isaiah liked this eraser with the flag of Papua New Guinea.

Makaylah fell in love with this piece of cloth with a map of Papua New Guinea, often worn as a skirt by local women. She can’t wait to get her own cloth to wear!

Nehemiah loved this necklace, too. Hey, it’s a very manly necklace!

Please join us in praying for the Bibless people in Papua New Guinea, and pray for us as we prepare to serve there.

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?… Romans 10:13-14a

We will be starting a newsletter soon, and if you would like to sign up for our mailing list, you can do so here, at the bottom of the page.